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Rethinking Mania Exchange - Going Modern

Rethinking Mania Exchange - Going Modern

27 Oct, 2012

(7 comments, 2316 views)

This is a brief introductory blog entry for a new blog series I'd like to pursue.

For the past year on a monthly basis, I've been mocking up possible site designs to replace the current one. I've never been able to mock up something worthy of putting to production. But not this month - this month I think I'm on to something. (brb)

Rethinking Mania Exchange rMX (remix if you don't get it)

It's over eight years old and it's not compliant with any modern web standards (W3C). For long-time users of TMX, I'm sure you've seen your fair share of little 'eye candy' changes that make the track-sharing experience on TMX a little bit better. Some have seen it evolve from its original design, to its current design and the MX redesign.

2004

TMX Present

MX Present

Time flies, doesn't it?

I'm sure you'd agree that it's quite 'stale' now and a redesign is well overdue. No more building on top off an eight year old design, something fresh, something modern - something rethought.

Introducing A New ManiaExchange
I mocked this design up using Twitter Bootstrap (one of the best CSS frameworks available today). It's incomplete (as you can see) and I'd love to see a completed mock up, hopefully as this blog series continues.

You'll see a brand new home page that is more social and engaging. I've introduced a new 'activity stream' of content that will be populated by promoted community content, favourite authors and friends. The classic array of front page windows have been preserved - they'll be moved off to the side.

The site is responsive and fluid, so it'll adjust its layout to your devices size/resolution (mobile, desktop etc).

There's no ETA on this. I'm still in the designing stage and it will evolve with each blog entry in the series.

Comments

7 comment(s).

Forzyy writes ...	28, Oct, 2012
Thanks for the comments guys. I'll definitely be pursuing it then! I really, really hope it increases the social aspect of track/map sharing, particularly with features such as the stream. As eyebo suggested, beta invites will definitely be given out.
SPIDER writes ...	28, Oct, 2012
yep the look is dull and old. Make the site more alive Maybe add your user picture like most site have and make forums more like a chat experience (like msn) if you know what i mean. large screen https://www.dropbox.com/s/iqbzud3nyspyn3y/forum.jpg preview screen is 200 x 243 ? (what is 643px) ?
eyebo writes ...	27, Oct, 2012
Tuta makes a good point. But I don't think anyone would deny that TMX/MX is a very dated design. I like it. It's still works. But it's completely outdated compared to any modern site you visit. I like the snapshots of each evolution of TMX. Very interesting. I think the last screenshot is really cool. It looks very promising! And if it's intuitively designed, I think a lot of people would appreciate a new design. I'd love it if there was an "opt-in" ticker in my account settings where I could beta-test a design in-progress, whenever it gets to the point that I could do that. Then those of us with an interest in it could give feedback from actually using it, without the moans from those who would be forced into it. Then at some point I would expect it to become the default design. But in any case, I think you're on the right track. Keep up the great work! I can't wait to see how this progresses.
XT»Marti writes ...	27, Oct, 2012
I'd love to see this grow! Keep us informed
arzgaa writes ...	27, Oct, 2012
Agree with tuta about the change that actually improves things. It makes sense that the site hasn't changed in a long time, as it clearly has worked well, but yeah I do hope the change makes things better. Perhaps guys get more active with a fresh design
Tuta writes ...	27, Oct, 2012
Hmmm... To me it looks kinda boring at the moment, maybe when you develop it further it will be really great I think the MX design is great as it is but sure it could perhaps do with a redesign. But only if it will actually improve the site imo, I hate change done just for the sake of changing something (bored coders?? hrm hrm ) but if it will take MX into a new generation I am for it
arzgaa writes ...	27, Oct, 2012
Great to see such freshness coming up for a change, the eight year old front page starts to get somewhat old I like especially the stream-thingy of the latest activity, brings even more interaction to this community Can't wait for the final form!